Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

For many internet users, the EU’s cookie consent policies are an aggravating and unavoidable experience when browsing the web. Introduced in 2018 as part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), these notices ask users to agree to being tracked when visiting a site for the first time, but are often misleadingly worded or impossible to refuse. In an effort to make cookie consent more consensual, the EU has published updated guidelines this week banning some of the worst interpretations of these policies.

The biggest change is an end to “cookie walls” which make viewing content contingent on consenting to be tracked. The whole point of the cookie consent policy is to give people a free choice in whether or not their data is…

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